CLIMBING STEWARDSHIP & THE PORTLAND AREA CLIMBERS COALITION

by Mark Daverin, Chairman, PACC

The Portland Area Climbers Coalition (PACC) is an all-volunteer 501(c)3 whose mission is “to make Portland a better place to climb through advocacy, stewardship, and education.” So, what does that mean?

PACC strives to keep our local climbing areas accessible and alive. Much like a garden, climbing areas need a certain amount of maintenance and love. PACC leverages the power of the local climbing community and our partnerships with the Access Fund and the American Safe Climbing Association to accomplish more than any one individual can. Our focus is on rebolting, trailwork, and access.

What is the “Portland area” and what does stewardship look like for us? We consider any climbing within about a 2-hour drive from the Portland metro area to be under our umbrella. And in that area, there is an amazing amount of high-quality climbing, from moderate multi-pitch rock climbs to 5.14 sport climbs, snow climbs, ice climbs, and mountaineering. The Portland area is home to more than 1,500 named rock climbs and thousands of boulder problems spread over 50 named crags and dozens of bouldering areas.

No one knows exactly how many people identify as climbers in the Portland metro area or how many people travel here to climb. A rough count gives us nine public climbing gyms and five major private walls. Combine that with the incredibly diverse nature of our climbing and it’s hard to appreciate exactly what’s going on out there. If a person only climbs at one crag or on Mt. Hood or, as is quite common, in the gym and at Smith Rock, then it might be eye-opening to see the traffic at some of our local crags. We have year-round outdoor rock climbing, and people make use of that every chance they get. Some crags also see heavy traffic with school groups, camps, guide services, and non-profits (looking at you, Mazamas!). Historically, climbing stewardship has been taken care of by the climbers who were at the wall climbing. If there was a loose bolt or piece of rock, that would get taken care of. This works when dealing with small problems that are easy to fix. Once you start dealing with whole areas being rebolted because the hardware is past its useful lifespan, or rerouting trails or coming up with climbing management plans with government agencies, then it’s incredibly advantageous to have a collective voice, not to mention collective physical muscle! It’s also great for our land managers and our climbing community to have a point of contact for maintenance and access issues. Here are some examples of work PACC has done in the past year:

■ We have replaced dozens of bolts and anchors. We strive to replace bolts on a 1-for-1 basis, meaning that we pull the old bolt out and replace it with a new bolt in the same hole. This includes replacing loose, rusted, or short bolts and worn-out anchors.

■ We held a rebolting clinic to teach best practices for replacing aging hardware.

■ We held an Adopt a Crag at Broughton Bluff with 30-plus volunteers to cut back extensive vegetation and maintain the trail, including erosion control, trail hardening, and trail rerouting.

■ We removed graffiti from Hanging Gardens at Broughton Bluff.

■ We are hard at work with Mt. Hood National Forest (MHNF) on a Memorandum of Understanding that will have many positive impacts on our local climbing.

■ We have been included in a working group to discuss the implementation of the Mt. Hood climbing permit.

We interface with other stewardship groups on a local, as well as national, level and we are continually working to stay in touch with our climbing community through our newsletter, social media, and tabling at our gym.

PACC’s greatest purpose is also the least visible—maintaining access to our local crags. We are currently working with the Forest Service to sign a Memorandum of Understanding that would greatly improve our ability to maintain existing crags in MHNF land. This will also legitimize climbing as a land use on MHNF land, helping to preserve access into the future.

Other ongoing access issues of high priority involve Rocky Butte and Ozone. This is too involved to describe here, but we will have more detailed information on our website soon.

You can find out more about PACC and sign up for our newsletter at www. oregonclimbers.org.